"LA GERBETIERE" 145 



ing for nearly a century, this decayed villa of pre-Revo- 

 lutionary days still stands in marked contrast to its 

 neighbors, and bears witness to a taste to which they 

 were strangers. The greenhouses, the fruit and shade 

 trees, if such it possessed, and all lesser adornments of 

 the place have vanished long ago, but thanks to the 

 durability of French stone and mortar, much about this 

 old country seat is still well preserved. Whether Audu- 

 bon ever saw his old Coueron home again after leaving 

 it in 1806 is doubtful, though one of his sons visited the 

 place, and the naturalist incidentally speaks of a pil- 

 grimage to Les Sables d'Olonne which might have oc- 

 curred in 1831 or a little later. In following the for- 

 tunes of the naturalist's family in France it will be nec- 

 essary for us to return to La Gerbetiere. 7 



T See Chapter XVII. 



